Compare and Contrast
by wonsterrr
Summary: Starts off immediately after Chapter 663. Sasuke accidentally finds himself into Hinata Hyuuga's world. He discovers the looming darkness in her "sunny place" and seeks its familiarity. Naruto is painfully unaware of this. Hinata is just confused about everything.


Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.

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Naruto was down on the ground, unconscious and barely breathing. Hinata, even after continuous usage of chakra since the war started, gathered up all of her power to go near him and be able to heal him, but was beaten first by a flash of pink. Sakura had already arrived at the scene and was desperately healing Naruto. A pang in her heart started again, and it wasn't because of the injury she retained from the Chuunin exams.

'_Now is not the time to think about that,'_ she told herself remorsefully, reminded by the memory of her beloved cousin, Neji.

Deciding to be useful, she activated her Byakugan for the nth time and just barely noticed a flickering amount of chakra in the distance. In a moment, she was standing near the legendary missing-nin, Sasuke Uchiha. He, like Naruto, suffered multiple injuries and had lost copious amounts of blood that would normally leave someone dead. But then again, Sasuke Uchiha was not normal.

She knew very well that she was exhausted of chakra and was only able to fight in this war so long because of sheer willpower, but she still kneeled beside him with determination in her eyes. She had to save Sasuke.

'_For Naruto_.'

She spotted the source of his blood loss and turned him over carefully, only noticing his eyes open at the last minute. Adrenaline coursed through her; she had never been this close to him before, but ignored the fear in her heart as there were some things more important to focus on.

She gathered her remaining supply of chakra, if there were any left, in her hands and concentrated on repairing tissues and wounds and veins. She felt a surge of chakra aimed at her, and on instinct, she turned her head to the source.

That was her mistake.

Sasuke's Sharingan was activated, whether intentionally or not. His red eyes glared at the intruder and the three tomoe spun around menacingly. He was too consumed by panic to realize whether this person was healing him or if they were his enemy. Predatory instinct and the desire to defend himself led him to subconsciously stimulate his genjutsu, making Hinata flinch.

Under normal circumstances, Hinata would have easily gotten out of mind-altering techniques, even so far as to deflect it. But she was tired. Tired from the war, from her depleting chakra supply, from the people dying around her, from watching her cousin die right before her eyes… And so, she let the genjutsu get a hold of her. In an instant, she succumbed to the ground. She looked peaceful, but her mind was not.

Everything was red and she was submerged in a river of blood. Various corpses of people were around her, both young and old. She knew all of them; they all recently died in the war. She got up in a defensive stance, even though she couldn't understand how, and prepared to fight them, remembering what Kurenai-sensei said about the Sharingan's genjutsu. _'They're not real, they're not real…' _she repeated in her head. Even so, she could not help but feel guilty as if she caused their deaths.

"Hinata."

She froze. She knew that voice. She didn't think she'd hear it again after the Chuunin exams. It was laced with so much hatred and anger that she lost focus and found herself drowning deeper and deeper. She tried to scream for help, but could only taste the blood around her.

After what felt like forever, she harshly landed in the middle of an arena. Her head throbbed and it took her a while to notice her surroundings. It reeked of familiarity. She slowly sat up and started panicking once she realized where she was. Her distress increased tenfold when she sensed someone behind her.

"Get up, murderer."

The cold voice sent shivers down her spine, and goose bumps appeared on her arms. Obediently, she stood up, but did not dare turn around to confirm her suspicions. None of them moved, as if waiting for the other to make the first attack. She was breathing heavily and her heart was pounding; she felt tired but adrenaline kept her from giving up.

"I know you're not real. You can't trick me, Neji-niisan," she said quietly. A cackle full of disgust made her cringe inwardly.

"Does it matter, _princess_? How greedy do you have to be in order to be satisfied? First you take away my father, and now me? Your own cousin, who protected you until the very end? I regret not being able to kill you that time, but I guess now's the perfect time to finish what I've started."

As the last word left his mouth, he dashed and went straight for Hinata's heart. In reflex, Hinata braced herself and went into her defensive stance. "Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou!"

Before she could lay a finger on him, Neji backed away at the last minute and stayed out of her field of divination. Once Hinata finished her taijutsu, Neji immediately proceeded to attack her. She was a nanosecond too late to defend herself again and Neji was in front of her, shameless of their close proximity. She looked up and a whirlwind of emotions encased her. He held so much pain in his eyes and the memory of him impaled kept replaying in her mind. Wasting no time, he gathered up his chakra and hit her on her chest where her heart was supposed to be. He met with little resistance, and Hinata was already on the other side of the arena clutching her chest.

"I hate you. I've always hated you, Hinata. I wish you had died back then. Why did my father have to die for the mistakes you made? Why did you get yourself kidnapped, anyway? Are you that stupid and incompetent? People are dying all around you because you're too weak and incapable. You never should've been a kunoichi in the first place. I never should've been foolish enough to believe in you."

A part of Hinata had always been terrified of what was really in Neji's heart. But she knew very well it wasn't this. She smiled sadly and looked at the fake Neji. She refused to believe any of his words, because she knew all too well that this was all in her head. Literally.

She was impressed with Sasuke's genjutsu. To have the ability to mess with another's mind and alter it to the point of insanity scared her, but amazed her all the same. She didn't have the strength to get out of it, but she had the will to keep herself sane. In a flash, Neji was near her again and started kicking and punching her.

"Why won't." A kick on her left side.

"You." A punch to her jaw.

"Fight back?" A kunai stuck to her shoulders.

He fought and she just laid there and took the abuse. She was coughing up blood, but he wasn't slowing down.

"I miss you, Neji-niisan."

He stopped. She already had fat tears rolling down her bruised cheeks. She never did have the time to mourn for him, did she? But how could she, when they were in the middle of an enormous war. Seeing as she wasn't going to escape anytime soon, she thought this was the opportune time to do so. Ignoring the entity which took the form of Neji, she curled up in a ball and cried her heart out. Flashbacks of the time they spent together played in her mind. She fondly remembered the time when she was blindfolded, and had to learn how to navigate like that. Even though Neji never admitted it, she knew he was the one making sure she did not hurt herself.

Everything around her started to dissolve. Neji, the arena, the blood… All that was left was her and complete darkness. A considerable amount of grief and sadness wafted in the atmosphere, and she welcomed it wholeheartedly. She screamed and clutched her chest, crying for her cousin, for the people who've sacrificed themselves, and for the others who had so much to live for but whose lives were cut short. As she began to calm down, a new resolve presented itself inside her.

'_I need to get out of here.'_

She slowly stood up and inhaled deeply. All over her body, she was covered in bruises and open wounds. Her face was stained with dried up blood, tears, and snot. Yet, she did not care. She knew that once she'd get out, she would still feel all of these injuries. That was how formidable the Sharingan was.

She started thinking of Naruto to motivate her even more, and her eagerness to see him alive awakened something in her. Suddenly, she was in the river of blood again. The corpses started rushing towards here, but she annihilated all of them before they could come close. Once all of them were down, she took a deep breath and activated her Byakugan, actively freeing her from the genjutsu.

She opened her eyes and met with the ground. She felt pain everywhere, even though there weren't any visible marks. Her breathing was ragged and desperate, but she lifted herself up. It felt like she spent hours trapped in her own mind, but it was evident that only about a minute or so passed in reality. Once she sat up, she eyed the cause of her pain and saw the evident annoyance in his face. His Sharingan was still activated.

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LOL I was wondering how much of a shock it would've been if the "mysterious foot" belonged to Hinata rather than Kabuto. Ah, well. From here on out I don't think I'll be following the manga so if anything seems out of place, know that it intentionally is supposed to be like that. HYEAH.

Also, I had told myself that I wasn't gonna make any multi-chaptered stories yet here I am. Completely ignoring the collection of one-shots I was supposed to update periodically. But nothing ever goes as planned, do they? Hmm.


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